Africans can learn from Caribbean Culture of Enterprise and Self-help…

Today President Bush seems as unsuited to lead the global mission to make poverty history as Ronald Reagan seemed when he launched the Western cause to end communism. Yet, there can be no doubt that Bush is just as committed to his mission as Reagan was to his cause and, moreover, that his insistence that rich nations give aid but hold recipients accountable for every dime will prove as effective as Reagan’s mantra of “trust but verify” in dealings with the Soviets.

More importantly though, Bush is seeking to persuade G8 leaders that the best way to end poverty is to enable the poor to help themselves and engage in trade instead of fostering in their minds the political expectation of endless aid. But if he wants to provide skeptics with a case study to support his view, he needs look no further than to the small cluster of islands off the Southeast coast of Florida, in the Caribbean Sea, that comprise the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). Because there he will find that where Booker T. Washington’s black power philosophy of economic self-determination over agitation for political integration did not take hold amongst black Americans, it found fertile habitation amongst the black people of the Caribbean.

Indeed, even though they are still negotiating to sever England’s anachronistic control over their political affairs, TCI leaders have been busy implementing programmes to ensure their people’s economic self-sufficiency. And, the centerpiece of their plan for economic self-determination is the TCI Small Enterprise Development Centre (SEDC).

Ms Lillian Misick, Head of the SEDC, embraces the challenge of building national pride in the TCI by providing the means for native islanders to participate in the dynamic enterprise culture of their country.

The SEDC provides education, training, facilitation, advice, instruction, funding, supervision, auditing, indeed, “a one-stop shop for both aspiring and existing entrepreneurs” to establish or grow businesses that range from catering to tourists to providing goods and services for fellow islanders. In fact, Ms Lillian Misick’s explanation of her agency’s mandate is most instructive:

Nothing creates and perpetuates conditions of poverty and feelings of helplessness more than the lack education and training. What poor people need most here, in Haiti, throughout the Caribbean and even more so in Africa is, first and foremost, a decent government that ensures their safety. Then, they need national programmes that educate and train them to build their self-esteem and give them the skills to provide for their own welfare.

Because, no matter what rich people in America and Europe say, poor people are the hardest working people in the world. And no self-respecting, able-bodied man wants to sit around and collect welfare if hammering a nail or weeding grass will provide for his family. All we in government need to do is provide the means for them to help themselves. And, that’s what we are doing for our people.

Of course, her words not only express the black empowerment philosophy of Booker T. Washington but also reflect the foreign aid strategy of George W. Bush. Moreover, Ms Misick’s SEDC clearly demonstrates that the TCI government is implementing the kind of self-help programmes that Bush would like to see transported to countries throughout Africa. And, despite the fact that African countries confront challenges to their development on a magnitude a million times greater than those facing Caribbean countries, African leaders would still do well to adopt and enable the enterprising ethic of self-help and self-responsibility that informs governance in the TCI.

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